1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to methods and systems for managing products within, for example, e-business systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for optimizing the delivery process of ordered products from a supplier to a customer within a supply chain management system, whereby the unavailability of supplier locations or products is considered by the methods and systems.
2. Background Information
Today, the success of a company depends essentially on the requirement that demands on goods and/or services be fulfilled precisely, cost-efficiently and in time. Therefore, many companies make use of a supply chain management system to control and optimize their production and delivery processes.
Supply chain management may comprise the process of coordinating the flow of goods, services, information and/or finances between the involved parties, such as manufactures, suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. This process may include, among others, order processing, information feedback, and timely delivering the ordered goods and/or services. Supply chain management may also integrate and manage key processes along the supply chain.
Often it is necessary for an enterprise to plan closures or partial closures of plants, for example, because of maintenance, or to react closely in time on sudden plant closures, for example, because of natural disasters.
Frequently, the movement of products through a supply chain involves the shipment of the products between the source location at which the product is produced or stored, and the target location where the product is to be delivered such as the vendor's or customer's place.
In current supply chain management systems, the availability of an ordered quantity of products is checked within an availability check process. This availability check process is based on a list comprising a plurality of locations which are checked during the availability check process. If a location out of this list is not checked, then this location has to be removed completely from this list.